Hail the Villain: Canadian rock group thrashes out on the island

December 3, 2010

Well, over here in the U.S.A., they really go to town for Halloween with this year being no exception. On this night at Nervous Nellie's, all the way for our viewing and listening pleasure, is a band who have come down from Ontario, Canada (the place that brought you the legendary "Anvil."

Before the band kicked into their songs, we knew it was gonna be crazily loud as instruments were checked, with Joe Monroe of The Cherry Papas commenting that he didn't realize their P.A. could reach such high levels, and it literally blew our minds.

A cool bearded dude with a classic mullet hairstyle introduced the "Villain." As soon as they hit the stage they were a complete monstrous gang of madness with their vocalist, Bryan Crouch, having a voice that was rasping, scathing and sounding like it came from the bowls of hell via a quick trip to the local chainsaw supplier. Imagine Metallica's James Hetfield meeting Chad from Nickelback, but rather more acidic and the posing of Fear Factory's Burton C. Bell.

The packed and excitable crowd loved them and even 99X was there, who had been promoting it on the radio station. Musically this was full-on, death-clenching, ear-splitting, abrasive chaos in a style that could be described as a kind of new nu-metal, with elements of energy from bands like Five Finger Death Punch, Avenged Sevenfold and Killswitch Engage, as well as older combinations from Fear Factory or Korn.

The Fort Myers Beach fans, totally digging their brashness of their presence, got really revved up and more so after the rousing remarks and screams of the Villain's voice man. There were killer moves from the bass player, at times reminding me of RHCP's bassist Flea, and well-packed, heavy as hell guitarwork on the Gibson SG and thunderous drumming also.

All the classic expletive swearing was there from the word "go," and nobody could get enough of the numbers that came from their CD, "Population: Declining."

Fact Box

Glenn Milligan is the editor of www.Metalliville.com, a worldwide, well-established and music-industry-recognized rock/metal webzine based out of the U.K. He has reviewed and interviewed many major rock acts that include Ian Gillan of Deep Purple, members of Motorhead, Yngwie Malmsteen, Stet Howland, Rickey Medlocke (of Lynyrd Skynyd), ex-Guns 'n' Roses members Gilby Clarke and Steven Adler, among many, many more. He can be contacted by e-mailing him directly at metalliville@hotmail.com, finding him and Metaliville on Facebook or by visiting MySpace.com/GlennMetalliville.

Highlights from the said album included their hit, "Take Back the Fear" that Bryan joked they "should play about 15 times," as it went down so well that night, as well as "Runaway," "My Reward," "Try Hating The World" and much, much more.

Big respect to the guy who shouted for another song he liked: "You must be a real fan, as you know more than one song!"

Nobody wanted Villain's set to end, and I can honestly say these guys are one of the best bands I have seen of this genre and I see them being a big, loud hit all over the world if they aren't already.

The boys did you proud and you did them proud and made their night big style. Cheers.